 Palestinian family surveys damage caused by the Israeli attack on Gaza, July 8, 2006. Photo: Reuters/Mohammed Salem |
The intensifying U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank is aimed at dismantling the recently elected Palestinian National Authority government and forcing the Palestinians to accept an Israeli-dictated “peace settlement.” The Israelis are utilizing the capture of one their occupation troops as the pretext to carry out a multi-faceted attack on both Palestinian governmental institutions and the population as a whole.
At least one-third of the PNA cabinet and many members of parliament, mayors and other officials have been imprisoned by Israel. Altogether, more than 9,000 Palestinian political prisoners, all abducted from their homeland, remain behind the walls of Israeli jails.
The operation currently underway has been preceded by several years of economic strangulation, which was turned into a near-complete blockade imposed on Gaza after the January 2006 Palestinian elections.
The victory of the Hamas party in that election was followed immediately by a cut-off in most trade as well as international assistance from the European Union, the United States, Canada and other countries. International assistance became critical due to the deliberate destruction of the Palestinian economy by Israel.
The Israeli government under the notorious racist Ehud Olmert (who succeeded the even more notorious Ariel Sharon) has been tightening the screws on the Palestinians in Gaza for months, causing widespread shortages of medicine, food and other necessities preventing supplies or funds from getting in to Gaza. The health care system is in crisis.
Following the January election, Israel cut off tax payments of $55 million per month due to the Palestinian Authority. Could there be a more telling sign of the colonial relationship between Israel and the Palestinians than the fact that Israel collects Palestinian customs duties, and turns them over to the Authority, if and when it chooses?
Most employees of the PA, who provide support for up to one-third of the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza, have been paid only once in the past four months, and many have not been paid at all. The corporate media has almost totally ignored the unfolding humanitarian crisis due to the embargo of trade and cut-off of aid and tax revenues.
The U.S. and Israeli propaganda mills would have us believe that the current crisis began with the “kidnapping” of an Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit, on June 26. There is no shortage of photos of Shalit, picnicking with friends, posing in his uniform, etc. His worried family is frequently interviewed.
It goes without saying that this “humanizing” is virtually never extended to the thousands of Palestinian victims of Israeli repression. Shalit is exclusively represented in the mainstream media here as an innocent victim, and never in his real role as an occupation soldier.
Israel has been stepping up its offensive military operations in Gaza for some time. Over nine days in mid-June, 14 Palestinian civilians were killed in Gaza by Israeli missile strikes. The last one killed Fatima Ahmed, the pregnant 37-year-old mother of two young children, and her brother, Zakaria, while wounding 13 other members of the family and destroying their home.
The new Israeli offensive launched on June 27 began with the destruction of Gaza’s only power plant, water facilities and the main roads connecting the north and south. The Israeli air force has carried out many air strikes, and constant sonic booms over heavily populated areas. Israeli heavy artillery barrages are continuing around the clock. On July 1, the office of the Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh was destroyed by Israeli bombing.
Since June 27, at least 31 Palestinians have been killed and many more wounded. Israeli troops, tanks and helicopters have re-invaded Gaza, surrounding and attacking the northern towns of Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya, and the southern city of Rafah.
In the face of the massive and pre-meditated destruction inflicted by the Israelis, Washington has shown complete backing for Israel’s crimes against humanity. Underlining that the assault has full U.S. backing, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on July 5 said only that it is “high time” the Palestinians release the captured soldier. While attempting to create a global hysteria about North Korean Scud missiles test-fired into the sea, neither Rice nor any other Washington official has uttered a word of criticism of the countless high-tech missiles Israel has fired into populated Palestinian areas.
The U.S.-Israeli strategy against the Palestinians is similar to the one used against Iraq: years of enforced economic hardship, followed by a massive military assault.
As the Palestinian prime minister has stated, “the total war is proof of premeditation.” There can be no doubt that this offensive has been in the works for a considerable period of time. Nor can there be any doubt that an operation of this magnitude and potential political consequences could have been undertaken by Israel without close consultation and approval from Washington.
There is a possibility that what is unfolding in Palestine may turn into a wider, regional war. The [Israeli] over-flight of Syrian President Bashir-al-Assad’s residence in Latakia, Syria on June 29 was met with Syria anti-aircraft fire. Both the U.S. and Israeli ruling classes make no secret of the fact that they are seeking “regime change” in Damascus.
A key element in the U.S.-Israeli strategy inside Palestine is to seek to demoralize the Palestinian people. The Israelis are openly trying to show the Palestinians, by inflicting maximum misery on the entire population, that their elected government cannot provide for their basic needs and never will as long as it maintains a posture of resistance. The central message is: “All resistance is futile. You [the Palestinians] must either accept your status as a subordinated, enslaved people, or you can [preferably] leave.”
Both Tel Aviv and Washington hope that the new Israeli offensive will crush the Palestinian resistance, a key goal of the United States and Israel for nearly four decades.
There is no indication, however, despite all the indescribable suffering imposed by colonial occupation, that the Palestinians are any more ready to surrender today than they were in 1987 or 1967 or 1947. The remarkable fighting spirit of the people despite the immense odds they face appears very strong.
But the Palestinians, who have held out for so long, cannot win by themselves. The forces arrayed against them are too powerful for them to overcome alone. What is needed now more than ever is international solidarity, especially here inside the imperialist state that really constitutes their main enemy.
Stop the U.S.-Israeli assault on the Palestinian people!
End all U.S. aid to the Israeli apartheid state!
Self-determination for the Palestinian people including the right of return!
